Read the text about periodic table and then answer the questions.

People have known about elements like carbon and gold since ancient time. The elements couldn't be changed using any chemical method. Each element has a unique number of protons. If you examine samples of iron and silver, you can't tell how many protons the atoms have. However, you can tell the elements apart because they have different properties. You might notice there are more similarities between iron and silver than between iron and oxygen. Could there be a way to organize the elements so you could tell at a glance which ones had similar properties?

Dmitri Mendeleyev was the first scientist to create a periodic table of the elements similar to the one we use today. This table showed that when the elements were ordered by increasing atomic weight, a pattern appeared where properties of the elements repeated periodically. This periodic table is a chart that groups the elements according to their similar properties.

Remember changing the number of protons changes the atomic number, which is the number of the element. When you look at the modern periodic table, do you see any skipped atomic numbers that would be undiscovered elements? New elements today aren't discovered. They are made. You can still use the periodic table to predict the properties of these new elements.

The periodic table helps predict some properties of the elements compared to each other. Atom size decreases as you move from left to right across the table and increases as you move down a column. The energy required to remove an electron from an atom increases as you move from left to right and decreases as you move down a column. The ability to form a chemical bond increases as you move from left to right and decreases as you move down a column.

The most important difference between Mendeleyev's table and today's table is that the modern table is organized by increasing atomic number, not increasing atomic weight. Why was the table changed? In 1914, Henry Moseley learned you could experimentally determine the atomic numbers of elements. Before that, atomic numbers were just the order of elements based on increasing atomic weight. Once atomic numbers had significance, the periodic table was reorganized.

Elements in the periodic table are arranged in periods (rows) and groups (columns). Atomic number increases as you move across a row or period.

Rows of elements are called periods. The period number of an element signifies the highest unexcited energy level for an electron in that element. The number of elements in a period increases as you move down the periodic table because there are more sublevels per level as the energy level of the atom increases.

Columns of elements help define element groups. Elements within a group share several common properties. Groups are elements which have the same outer electron arrangement. The outer electrons are called valence electrons. Because they have the same number of valence electrons, elements in a group share similar chemical properties. The Roman numerals listed above each group are the usual number of valence electrons. For example, a group VA element will have 5 valence electrons.

There are two sets of groups. The group A elements are called the representative elements. The group B elements are the nonrepresentative elements.

Each square on the periodic table gives information about an element. On many printed periodic tables you can find an element's symbol, atomic number, and atomic weight.

Elements are classified according to their properties. The major categories of elements are the metals, nonmetals, and metalloids (semi-metals).

You see metals every day. Aluminium foil is a metal. Gold and silver are metals. If someone asks you whether an element is a metal, metalloid, or non-metal and you don't know the answer, guess that it's a metal.

Metals share some common properties. They are lustrous (shiny), malleable (can be hammered), and are good conductors of heat and electricity. These properties result from the ability to easily move the electrons in the outer shells of metal atoms.

Most elements are metals. There are so many metals, they are divided into groups: alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, and transition metals. The transition metals can be divided into smaller groups, such as the lanthanides and actinides.

Questions:

1. Describe Mendeleyev´s periodic table. Do you know what he predicted?

2. How are the elements arranged in the modern-day periodic table?

3. What is the periodic table divided into?

4. How are group 1 elements called?

5. How are group 2 elements called?

6. How are group 17 elements called?

7. How are group 18 elements called?

8. Name some properties of metals.

9. Describe semi-metals.

10. Describe non-metals.

Date: 2015-01-12; view: 2282